


A New Life

by AvadaGreenEyes



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Not Canon Compliant - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-25
Updated: 2019-04-25
Packaged: 2020-01-31 14:47:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18593449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvadaGreenEyes/pseuds/AvadaGreenEyes
Summary: The truth will out.The aftermath of the Third Task, and the truths about to come out.





	A New Life

Harry would have thought himself lucky, if he was conscious. 

 

Or, perhaps he wouldn’t have, considering what happened once he materialized in front of the spectator stands, by the entrance of the Maze.

 

When the two bodies had appeared in front of the audience, there was much cheering. The judges and the Minister moved forward to greet them, when everyone noticed something. 

 

_ The bodies weren’t moving. _

 

Madam Pomfrey moved to check them immediately, the group of six stopping not 10 feet from her and the boys. Amos Diggory staggered from the stands once he caught a glimpse of the yellow and black of his sons uniform, shouts of the Hufflepuff boys name falling from his lips. 

 

The audience stopped cheering, stopped celebrating a Hogwarts win, and for once paid attention to what was happening right in front of him. 

 

While Harry Potter still had a pulse - if feint - Cedric Diggory did not. 

 

And all at once, there was screaming. 

 

  * ~~~~~~§~~~~~~§



 

Harry James Potter woke up four days later in the Hogwarts Infirmary. 

 

When he opened his eyes, the first thing he noticed was the  _ pain _ . The second thing he noticed was his lack of spectacles. Finally, he recognized the sight of the Infirmary ceiling, and groaned loudly. 

 

He tried to sit up despite his protesting muscles, and winced as he adjusted his body against the pillows behind him. Fumbling for his glasses, he never expected the cold hand touching his forehead, and startled violently at the first touch. He heard a sigh that sounded vaguely familiar, and closed his hand around the frames pressed there. 

 

As quickly as he dared, Harry put on his glasses. Instantly, he recognized the slightly weary and exasperated face of Hogwarts Matron Poppy Pomfrey.  She was sitting on the edge of his hospital bed holding a glass of water. He grinned at her sheepishly, to which she held out the glass with a huff and a roll of her eyes. 

 

“Honestly, child, how many times does this make it then?” The Matron asked. Harry brought up a hand to rub the back of his neck, thinking back to all the times he has been subjected to the hospital wing.

 

“Since first year? Or do you mean the beginning of fourth year?” He questioned. He was quite serious, honestly: There was a large difference in the numbers. Poppy just quirked the corner of her lips a bit, before making him drink some of the water. 

 

“After this last trip, I  _ swear _ you’re getting a name placard on the foot of this bed.” The boy just smiled at the motherly woman while mentally choosing his response. 

 

“Yes, but Poppy, you said that  _ last  _ time. And the time before that.” Poppy sighed, but as she was opening her mouth to respond, someone cleared their throat from some feet away. 

 

Harry startled horribly, flinching back from the noise and squeezing his eyes tightly closed. As he continued to make sure he was small enough he couldn’t  _ possibly _ be hit, he missed the scowl the healer had leveled at the person who had made the noise: Severus Snape. 

 

Turning back to her charge, Poppy attempted to soothe the boy while the others stood shocked. One of them, a tall woman in green robes glared strongly at Snape for causing the reaction. Snape himself stood stock still, eyes wide, betraying his shock. Another figure, a man wearing a hideous green bowler, was much the same as Snape, wondering what could have possibly caused  _ that _ reaction.

 

  * ~~~~~~§~~~~~~§



 

When everyone was calm and sitting, Harry looked at the man in the green bowler - Minister Cornelius Fudge - and started the conversation. 

 

“Minister sir, while I’m sure you, just like everyone else, want to know what happened, I’m afraid I have to set a few conditions. Or well, they’re more of requests, really, but I want to make sure you take me seriously, sir, and that you have no doubt of what what I’ll tell you.” There was a pregnant pause following this statement, and just as Snape was about to give him a tongue lashing for his actions, the Minister nodded once, and motioned the boy to continue. 

 

“Go on, Mister Potter. I’d like to hear these requests.” Harry looked at the Minister a bit longer, assessing him, before nodding in turn.

 

“One: I would like Veritaserum to be used, so that you know I’m telling the truth. Two: I’d like a reporter to be present when I make my statement about the task, the whole tournament, whatever you like. I know it’ll be important later. Three: this reporter  _ cannot be _ Rita Skeeter. I wouldn’t trust her as far as I could throw her. And lastly, four: You may have whoever you want present, though specifically I request Madam Bones, two Aurors, Madam Pomfrey, and Professors McGonagall & Snape.” There was another lengthy pause following the requests. 

 

While Poppy proceeded to mother Harry, the Minister sighed, stood up, and conjured a quill and parchment. 

Writing his requests on the parchment, he folded it and sealed the short letter with the seal of the Minister for Magic. Walking over to the Floo, he sent it off to Amelia Bones, Head of the DMLE. 

 

  * ~~~~~~§~~~~~~§



 

For reasons unknown, nobody thinks to contact Dumbledore throughout the whole process. 

 

Everyone else is there, though, when Madam Bones starts the recording device she brought along for the record. “You can never be too careful, Cornelius,” she had said at the Minister’s look. “Continue,” he gestured, summoning everyone a chair from the nearby beds. 

 

Madam Bones turned on the recording device, and cleared her voice slightly. “Monday, 20 June 1995, Hospital Wing, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Scotland, United Kingdom.  **Persons in room:** Madam Amelia Bones, Head of the DMLE; Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt and Head Auror Rufus Scrimgeour; Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge; Madam Poppy Pomfrey, Hogwarts Healer; Professor Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts School, Gryffindor Head of House and Transfiguration Master; Professor Severus Snape, Slytherin Head of House and Potions Master; Xavier Travers, reporter for the Daily Prophet; Harry Potter, fourth year student of Hogwarts School, Gryffindor House.” 

 

Madam Bones took a deep breath or two before continuing. Luckily, the recording device didn’t just store sound - it also stored visuals of the moments between the beginning of the recording and the end. 

 

“ **Reason for Recording:** To find out the events of the Third Task of the Triwizard Tournament of the 1994-95 school year at Hogwarts School, and any other important information that may be found and recorded.”  Finished with the introduction, she took another deep breath before looking Harry Potter in the eyes and saying, 

 

“Please, Mister Potter: talk.” Harry nodded determinedly, looking every person in the eye before starting. 

 

“I asked, specifically, that I be given Veritaserum so that those gathered would know the truth of my words. Though you are here specifically to learn the truth of the Third Task, if you have any questions about anything else, please, do not hesitate to ask. My only restriction on questions is that my Healer, Madam Pomfrey, agree to them for the duration of the time I am under the potion’s influence, as I know extended usage of the potion may have detrimental effects to my person. I suggest that the potion be verified by Master Snape as the youngest Potion Master in history. Beyond that, I trust that this...privilege… not be abused.” It was fair, and there was pretty much nothing that favored Harry himself - only a surety that they would  _ know _ and could not question the truth of his words. 

 

Professor Snape verifies the potion handed to him by Head Auror Scrimengour, and hands it the healer, who gives it to Harry. As the glassy eyes and blank face of Harry Potter are directed towards the recorder and Madame Bones, they start the questioning. 

 

“What is your name?”

 

“Harry James Potter.”

 

“Is your summer residence Number 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Are you a fourth year Gryffindor?”

 

“Yes.”

 

Knowing he was telling the truth, they proceeded with the “interrogation.”

 

“To start, Harry, how did you come to be in the Triwizard Tournament?” 

 

“I don’t know. We were sitting at the Feast, and Cedric had just walked into the backroom when the Goblet of Fire spit out another name. Headmaster Dumbledore called my name from the parchment. I never entered myself, or had anyone do it for me.” 

 

“Do you know who entered you into the Tournament?”

 

“No.”

 

Sighing, she thought ‘ _ it was worth a shot _ .’ Continuing, she focused on the Third Task.

 

“What happened in the maze, Mister Potter?”

 

“Cedric and I entered together, because we tied. We seperated at the first fork in the path. 5 minutes later Viktor entered the maze, and then Fleur five minutes after him. I faced several dead ends, anti-gravity mist, an acromantula, and a few blast-ended skrewts when I heard a shrill scream nearby. I raced towards the sound, and found Fleur unconscious and in the process of being taken by the maze walls. I shot off sparks so those patrolling would be aware one of us needed help. I continued on, more cautious.” The adults all traded glances, though Professor McGonagall looked proud at her student helping the French girl.

 

“I’m not sure how much time passed before I came across the sphinx. I solved her riddle, so she let me pass. Soon after, I heard the sound of spell fire. Turning a corner, I found Cedric and Viktor dueling. Viktor was acting out of character, as he had been joking with me and the other champions not that long ago. I realized that he was under the Imperius a few minutes into the duel, and stunned him. Cedric had fallen, and I explained what happened while I helped him up. We shot off sparks so the Professors would find Viktor, before continuing on.” 

 

Everyone except Poppy had frozen when he mentioned the Imperius curse. She had treated the Bulgarian student, after all, and he had been missing quite a few hours of memory. Getting off track for a moment, the Minister and Madam Bones conferred for a moment before the next question.

 

“How did you know Mister Krum was under the Imperius Curse?”

 

“I recognized the signs.”

 

“How did you know what signs to look for?” They could all tell that Harry had to pause and think of the answer hard before continuing.

 

“In Professor Moody’s first class, he showed us the Unforgivables - he used all three on spiders.  In the second class and several more afterwards, he cast the Imperius on all of us to teach us to fight and withstand the curse. Nearly everyone could fight it to some degree; I was the only one immune to it.” 

 

All the adults looked impressed at this admission except one Severus Snape, who merely raised an eyebrow. Shaking her head, Madame Bones continued with the Third Task. 

 

“What happened after you and Mister Diggory left Mister Krum?”

 

“We continued for a bit, when we came across another Blast-Ended Skrewt. We managed to kill it, and continued on. We finally hit a path that lead us to the Cup: it was about 30 meters away from us, and down a singular aisle. We paused and looked at each other, when the aisle behind us started merging the maze walls together. We started running and pushing each other, trying to get to the Cup first.”

 

Even though Harry had a blank face and monotonous voice, they could tell that what followed would  _ not _ be very nice. 

 

“Cedric tripped over a root, but I kept running. I didn’t know what came over me, just that I had to get to the Cup first and win. Cedric yelled for me though, and after the third time I stopped and turned back around - Cedric was being mummified by the maze walls. I don’t know why, but I hesitated for several moments, before running back to save him. Once we realized he was fine, we continued walking. 

 

“Within minutes we were standing in the center of the maze. I paused by the entrance, but Cedric only had eyes for the Cup. He continued walking forward, but a large shadow fell over him - an Acromantula was the final obstacle. I don’t know how long we fought with it, but I had broken my ankle and been scratched by a fang by the time it was done.”

 

_ ‘He did all that and survived? At 14?’ _ was a common thought. The reporter was eating everything up, though he had the professional courtesy to not show it on his face.   

 

“We argued back and forth about who should get the Cup. I thought that Cedric should have it, because I didn’t want to be in the tournament in the first place, and I only wanted to survive it, not win it. Cedric thought I should have it, because I had saved him several times, and if I hadn’t it would have been mine. Finally, we agreed we’d both take it, because then it’d still be a Hogwarts win, and we were both satisfied the other had the Cup.”

 

Harry finally stopped speaking, as that was the end of his response to the initial question -  _ What happened in the maze, Mr. Potter? _ Madam Pomfrey coaxed the child into drink some of his water while the other attempted to gather their thoughts.

 

“What happened after you and Mister Diggory grabbed the Cup?”

 

“It was a portkey. When the world stopped spinning, we were laying in the damp grass in the dark. We picked ourselves up and realized we were in a graveyard. We had our wands out, and started walking around a bit. I managed to read one stone before we were attacked - it read:

 

_ Tom Riddle Sr. _

_ 1901  - 1943 _

 

“I recognized the name, and it set me on edge. There was a  noise from about 20 yards away. When we turned to look, a voice hissed, ‘Kill the spare.’ I screamed, but it did no good. A green flash of light hit Cedric before either of us could respond, and I was immediately restrained against Riddle’s headstone…” 

 

Harry continued his story, and the further he progressed, the more horrified his audience was. 

 

Harry spoke of the ritual that had been performed. He spoke of the Death Eaters who had appeared, and of the speech the newly risen Dark Lord Voldemort had made. 

 

Harry spoke of being held under the Cruciatus for minutes at a time, in front of laughing and cheering adults. He told them of the spectators names when prompted (Malfoy, Avery, Rosier, Pettigrew, Crabbe, Goyle, etc). 

 

He told them of throwing off the Imperius, of the duel that ended with the ghosts of his parents saving his life and buying him time. 

 

He spoke of racing to Cedric’s body - a request from the boy’s spirit -  and summoning the Cup, hoping he would survive long enough to warn someone. 

 

He spoke the story of a 14-year-old  _ child _ who watched a student and friend die, and was tortured before escaping by the skin of his teeth.

 

  * ~~~~~~§~~~~~~§



 

Once again there was a pause as the audience tried to digest what they had just heard. Shaking her head a bit, Madam Bones remembered something the boy had said. 

 

“Mr. Potter, you said one of the Death Eaters was Pettigrew? How?” Everyone immediately refocused on the situation. 

 

“In June of 1994 it as revealed, via a special tool, that Peter Pettigrew was alive and in the castle. Naturally, my friends and I were then confused - we knew this object could not be fooled, so if Pettigrew was alive, why was Sirius Black accused of his murder? I took the news to Professor Lupin, and he promised to look into it. A few days later, my friends and I were walking back to the castle from Hagrid’s Hut when we heard a growl. We turned to find a large Grim behind us, who attacked Ron. With Ron’s leg in his mouth, the dog dragged him to the base of the Whomping Willow, and we gave chase. We came to find a tunnel connecting the Willow to the Shrieking Shack, and immediately found Ron in a dust bedroom upstairs. Ron was terrified, back pressed to the wall and his rat, Scabbers, clutched in his hands. There was a noise behind us, and we turned to find Sirius Black standing in the shadows. 

 

“Hermione and I pulled our wands on him, and he smiled at our quick thinking. He was remarking on how grown I was when Professor Lupin burst in the door, pointing his wand at Sirius. They exchanged a few words when the professor lowered his wand. They told us a story of how, in 1981 my mother and father went into hiding, and Peter Pettigrew was made their Secret Keeper. Only, they didn’t want anyone to know, so it was spread that  _ Sirius _ was the Secret Keeper. On Halloween of 1981, Sirius went to Pettigrew’s apartment for their weekly check-in. Pettigrew wasn’t there, but there was no sign of a struggle, and everything was missing. Worried, Sirius drove to Godric’s Hallow and found the ruin. He was distraught, crying over my father’s body before he heard me crying. He came to take me out of the wreckage and back to his apartment when Hagrid showed up. He said he was on orders from Dumbledore to take me to my aunt in Surrey. 

 

“Sirius knew he couldn’t fight Hagrid, so he relinquished me and lent Hagrid his bike, for safer travel, but vowed he would come find me later. Left with nothing else to do, Sirius went after Pettigrew. It took him three days, but he managed to corner the rat in a Muggle suburb. Before he could do anything, the rat shouted for the whole street to hear that Sirius had betrayed my parents, and then cast a  _ Bombarda _ at an exposed gas line. In the explosion, Pettigrew managed to get away, and Sirius was left half-sobbing and half-laughing at his misfortune. Aurors arrived on the scene and arrested Sirius, taking him to Azkaban. He has no memory of a trial. 

“We didn’t believe him at first, but there was a simple way to know the truth - they believed that Ron’s rat, Scabbers, was Pettigrew. They could use the Animagus reversal spell on him, but if he was a real rat it wouldn’t harm him. Before we could do anything further, Professor Snape burst into the room. 

 

“He made some comment about turning Black into the authorities and relishing the opportunity to watch him be  _ KISSED _ , but we wanted answers. Ron, Hermione and I accidently stunned him at the same time, and the power behind three desperate stunners threw him against a wall and knocked him unconscious. 

 

“We proceeded to prove Scabbers was in fact Pettigrew, and were taking him back to the castle in trade for Sirius freedom when the moon came up. 

 

“See, Professor Lupin is a werewolf, and he had forgotten his potion in his haste to get to us. He had to transform, and Sirius reverted to his animagus form to protect us from the wolf. Professor Snape woke up and tried to protect us from the fight, but Pettigrew was getting away.  I chased after them. 

 

“I don’t really remember what happened next, but I do remember ending up on the short of the lake hovering over Sirius to protect him from the Dementor swarm. There must of been hundreds of them, and I was trying to produce my Patronus, but it wasn’t working. Just as I passed out, I saw a Patronus glide over us from the other side of the lake. 

 

“When I woke up, we were in the Hospital Wing. Hermione and I tried to tell the Minister about Sirius’ innocence, but he wouldn’t believe us. Said that Professor Snape had already told him he suspected Sirius had confunded us. Nevermind that the Professor had a 20 year grudge against Sirius. “

 

Harry fell silent once again. 

 

  * ~~~~~~§~~~~~~§



 

Things happened quickly after that. 

 

A special edition of the  _ Daily Prophet _ went out that disclosed the truth of the Third Task, the start of the Second War, and the truth behind the Sirius Black case. 

 

Sirius was released and a KISS on sight order put on Pettigrew’s head. 

 

Sirius sued for custody of Harry, as was his right, when Dumbledore tried to step in and protest that he was much safer with his muggle relatives and the Blood Wards there. 

 

When it was pointed out that the Dark Lord had  _ Harry’s _ blood in his veins from the ritual, and that the wards required love to function, Harry admitted to his abuse. The Dursley’s were put on trial and arrested, Dudley being sent to live with his Aunt Marge. 

 

Dumbledore lost his position of Chief Warlock and Sirius was awarded custody of his godson. (This was also in the Prophet.)

 

And the rest, as they say, is history.  


End file.
